


Destiny Awaits

by SageCommander



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Has Issues, Anakin Skywalker Leaves the Jedi Order, F/M, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, Revelations, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:55:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26577178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageCommander/pseuds/SageCommander
Summary: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader comes back in time with the help of the Force. He decides to quit the Jedi Order and go about saving the galaxy in his own way. Mostly cliche, but trying to make it unique.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 53
Kudos: 159





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Star Wars or any characters, George Lucas and Disney do…  
> This is my first Star Wars fanfiction. This story is a cliché time-travel story, set on the prequel era. This kind of story is a dime a dozen, I know, but I want to take a run at it, see if I can do any better. Family, Romance and Adventure type story. Updates will be slow…

**_Mustafar (6BBY)-_ **

_‘What was he supposed to do with this?’_ Vader wondered to himself, lost in his mind considering this new situation.

The trapezohedron holocron was baffling. Using the Force to manipulate time itself, what was he supposed to make of this, he asked himself. Why did the Force nudge him to this? The indecision made him angry, his rage burned brighter within him. But he could not bring himself to disregard it. How could he? If it was a path to change, how could he disregard it? If it was a path to his _Padmé_.

One of the Imperial Exploratory Teams had found an ancient Jedi Holocron on an excavation in Ossus. The Emperor had sent one of the Inquisitors to retrieve it. But as it arrived, the Holocron presented a problem. None of the Inquisitors could find a way to activate it, not the Grand Inquisitor, not even the Emperor could activate the device. The holocron was designed in a very different manner, far different from other holocrons taken from the Jedi Archives. It was shaped differently and it activated differently. A Jedi Master named Jego Haras, who seemed to be a respected Jedi Master who had lived thirty-nine centuries ago, was the creator of this holocron.

Initially, Vader had disregarded it, enough of these trinkets were every so often found by their exploratory teams. But his attention had been drawn to it when the Emperor could not find a way to access the knowledge within. The Emperor’s strength in the Force was unmatched, even he could only reach up to eight-tenth of his master’s strength in the Force. As the Emperor failed time and time again, he had gotten bored with what he claimed to be a broken device and commissioned it to be destroyed, but the Force had prompted him to act, and he had. Vader didn’t know why, but he felt compelled to act, reluctantly, he had switched it with a decoy and brought it to his fortress while the decoy was destroyed.

The Holocron can only be opened by someone who is extremely strong in the Force, that much was clear. However, it had an added security measure, in fact a very unique one. One that the Emperor hadn’t known, one the Sith Lord could never have guessed. The person who wants to access the Holocron will need to have a heart filled with regret. An immeasurable presence of regret that constantly begs relief. That was how the Holocron explained it, when he had opened it.

His memory of Padmé’s funeral on Theed came to mind once again, the recording of the procession that the Emperor had made him watch over and over again in order to fuel his self-hatred and rage. The memory of her face brought out great anguish, followed by the overwhelming guilt of his love dying at his own hands and the regret that made his existence miserable. That regret was what activated the device, a singular emotion that was keyed to the Holocron.

Vader levitated the device on the floor yet again and channelled his Force presence and along with his emotions. The device clicked open and the segments expanded outwards, as blue light emerged. The levitating Holocron began spinning as the Hologram of the Jedi Master whose knowledge stored within it appeared.

A man wearing the traditional Jedi garbs along with pieces of old armour appeared. He had a goatee and was bald, a bar-like tattoo that ranged from the forehead to his chin, he was a kiffar male. The blue holographic image spoke. “I am Master Jego Haras, pleased to make your acquaintance.” The interactive Hologram of the long dead Jedi Master appeared and introduced for the umpteenth time.

“Explain the method of this ritual again.” Vader grunted in mild annoyance.

“So, I shall.” The hologram continued, “This ritual converges on the fundamental foundation of the Living Force. As it is known, the Force is woven through the very fabric of our physical universe; however, it also lies beyond the dimension of flowing time. In dimensions within dimensions, in an endless continuum, the Force exists. This hidden world of convergence is called the Netherworld of Unbeing. To correct time itself, the one who seeks must journey to this plane. Embrace the Force, give your soul, and with the Will of the Force, you may relive yet again, in time.”

Vader listened to the hologram again, just as he had listened to it no less than two dozen times already. He had wondered why the Force nudged him towards the holocron, but now, he knew. Although, it seemed too good to be true. Time travel.

The first whispers of the Force came when he was in the suspended animation of the Bacta tank, the only times in his miserable existence where he felt vaguely human. A time when he felt the least connected to the Dark side of the Force, a time without pain, a time to rest. The whispers turned his attention towards the Holocron that was deemed broken, that’s how he was here. The Force was adamant about it as well, for reasons he could not fathom at the time.

The idea was so simple, go back in time and save yourself from this fate. But he didn’t care about his fate, all he wanted was to see Padmé once again, to hold her, to save her. If he could see her and if he could only apologize to her and proclaim his love for her one last time, his life would be worth it. He would gladly let her strike him down for the good of the galaxy, as penalty for his countless crimes.

Thirteen years in pain. Thirteen years in regret, in guilt, in rage. He wished to undo it all. If the option was Padmé or the galaxy, he would choose Padmé every single time. If only he could save her, he would, even at the cost of his own life. He had even opened the Gate to the Dark side itself and as a soul roamed the Dark side in search of Padmé, he couldn’t find her. The tiniest possibility of seeing her again, was enough for him. He would risk it. He would gladly risk it all.

“Explain yourself. What do you mean by embracing the Force?” Vader asked specifically at the vague detail.

“One who seeks must become one with the Living Force, it means. Erase the destined end that awaits us all, erase the preordained fate determined by the Force, and give your soul to the Force itself, become one with it, and if it is the Will of the Force, you will be blessed with life again.”

“How do I become one with the Force? How?” Vader asked in urgency, his own impatience made it frustrating to further hear the Jedi’s vague words.

“The one who seeks must preserve ‘Balance’. Remove yourself from the Lightside and the Dark, become one with the Force. In balance. And surrender yourself to the Force. Your soul, your body and your destiny. You will find the way.”

Vader beheld the hologram in suspicion. Become one with the Force. He couldn’t comprehend such a state, without the Lightside and without the Dark side, in balance, in Force. What was he supposed to make of this?

Vader understood now, he must give up the Dark side, his very source of power. As much as it would hurt him, if it led him to Padmé, he would do it, he told himself. Conflicted by the choice between the Dark side and Padmé, he pondered the choice. Padmé, he would choose Padmé. The Force led him to seek out this Holocron for some reason, why else would it open for him and him alone? The Force is trusting him, why can’t he trust it? He needed time.

* * *

**_Fortress Vader (Five Months Later)-_ **

For five months he planned, he trained and transformed himself. He finally allowed himself to accept the evil within him, to accept the choices he had made, no matter how much pain those choices caused. With acceptance came the truth, and the truth as painful as it was, it took away the despair that had gripped him for so long. With the reach of the despair reduced, for the first time he felt the true extent of his reach of the Force.

The months were painful, he had to teach himself new levels of patience to enact his plan. His Master didn’t need to know what he was planning. He had just returned from Garos system after quickly putting an end to a metastasising conflict and installing a peaceful regime under Imperial law.

The Holocron was destroyed, he had destroyed it to keep it from the Emperor’s hands. He was now finally ready to perform the ritual. He had researched everything he could and came up with the plans to perform the ritual, a part of him screamed not to take the risk, but another part of him, no longer cared if he did so.

In his chamber, the droids removed his armour and prepared him, he prepared his mind for the end.

The medical droid injected a deep sedative into the marrow of his spine so that it would take away all of his pain, finally allowing him to rest. The sudden lack of physical pain lessened the influence of Dark side. He Forcefully stopped himself from thinking of Padmé, knowing that he would never be able to stop using the Dark side if he were to think of his guilt and the loss of his love.

No Sith has ever returned from the Dark side, but he would do it, if only he got to see Padmé one more time. Thirteen years of collecting vast knowledge and power, what did he gain? Nothing. Happiness, that was what he had sacrificed, happiness was the cost of his power. No more, he will not fall prey to that anymore.

_‘I will not!’_ Vader willed himself.

The Dark side was screaming at him to listen, it was demanding that he listen to it. It promised him even more power if he stopped easing out of the Dark side. Soon the demands had turned to promises. He kept pulling out of the Dark side of the Force, until the promises became genuine begging, the Dark side begged him to stop, he faltered for a moment, until he realised how pathetic the Dark side sounded, with that he continued with a renewed vigour. This may be a risk, but he was doing this not just for himself, he was doing it for Padmé, and if he had to choose between her and the Dark side, he would choose her. He chose her.

The sulfuric yellow eyes that signified the presence of the Dark side disappeared. For the first time in thirteen years, Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker. His blue eyes that had once entranced Padmé had returned.

A single tear ebbed at the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek until it stopped at his breather that was surgically attached to his chest. He chose not to pull on the Lightside, having pulled out of the Dark. Anakin slowly entered into a Force Trance.

In his hibernation, he gave up on his hopes, his thoughts and his past and surrendered himself to the Force. Enveloped by the loving embrace of the Force, he felt himself letting go, “Padmé.” Those were his last words as he felt his body dissolve into the Force itself.

* * *

**_Dagobah-_ **

The disturbance in the Force rocked the Galaxy by a storm. Yoda felt it, the change in the Force, Darth Vader had passed away. But what shocked the former Jedi Grandmaster was the fact that the Force was mourning the loss. The presence that passed was not of a Sith Lord’s, it was that of a Light side user.

Darth Vader had done it, he had returned from the Dark side and died as a man, and not as a monster.

“Hmm… Judged Vader wrongly, I have. Hmm…” The aged Jedi Master spoke tentatively.

* * *

**_Tatooine-_ **

In the desert, over a campfire, Obi-Wan Kenobi sat meditating and musing about the mysteries of the Force.

Just then, he felt the shockwave in the Force. He immediately felt it, the change. His former padawan had died, he couldn’t believe it. What he couldn’t comprehend was the fact that the ripple he felt wasn’t that of the Dark side, it was the of the Light. Impossible, no one could come back from the Dark side, Yoda had said so himself. But here it was, Anakin had done it, after years of being immersed in the Dark side of the Force, Anakin had done it, he had come back.

“Anakin…” The jedi master looked up at the night sky and wondered.

* * *

**_Imperial Center-_ **

Darth Sidious felt the ripple in the Force, a massive wave that washed everyone who were sensitive to the Force. Anyone with decent enough control of the Force could feel the massive power that flickered away. It could only mean one thing; his apprentice was dead.

A rumbling laughter echoed through the halls of the Emperor’s throne room. He, the Dark Lord of the Sith hadn’t expected this from Vader. He had expected Vader would one day try to usurp his throne and die in the process, but this was unexpected.

“No matter, I will soldier forth for the both of us, my old friend.” The Emperor commented in glee, “HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Star Wars or any characters, George Lucas and Disney do…  
> This is my first Star Wars fanfiction. This story is a cliché time-travel story, set on the prequel era. This kind of story is a dime a dozen, I know, but I want to take a run at it, see if I can do any better. Family, Romance and Adventure type story. Updates will be slow…

**_The Force-_ **

Anakin Skywalker stood on fiery volcanic landscape of Mustafar, his body was no longer the half-machine that had been as Darth Vader, it was fully him, even the hand he had lost to Dooku was back. The bluish ghostly appearance told him that the first part of his gamble had worked, he had become a Force Ghost. The second part of the gamble was now a choice, he could stay here and watch the world, or he could depart to the Netherworld of the Unbeing, hoping that the Force saw fit to give him another chance.

The more he wondered, the more he realised that he had nothing here. All the people he had truly cared about were already dead, his mother, Padmé, his unborn child, the only other person who was still alive was Ahsoka, whom he had no intention of communicating with. He didn’t need her disappointment too, he had plenty of that already.

“Anakin! Anakin!”

Anakin heard the voice, a voice that he couldn’t quite place, but he knew that he had heard it before in his life. And then he saw it, the ethereal appearance of Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the only Jedi he ever respected.

“Qui-Gon!” He exclaimed in shock.

The taller man came towards him and placed both his arms on his side and beheld him with unhidden pride. The older man embraced him and he embraced the man back. And when they separated, the Jedi master said.

“I’m proud of you, Anakin.” The master said to him with the same pride in his gaze.

“What?” Anakin asked completely befuddled.

Of all the things anyone could say, he never expected that. How could anyone be proud of him? After everything he has done, why would Qui-Gon of all people be proud of him, he went against everything the man had stood for. At the same time, a part of him deep inside him that had wished to be praised for his deeds, the mind of a slave that wished to win everyone’s approval rejoiced at the Jedi master’s words.

Anakin hung his head down to the ground, “Qui-Gon, why would you be proud of me? Do you know what I have done?”

Qui-Gon gave him a measuring look, “Walk with me.” And then placed an arm over Anakin’s shoulder.

“Master, I-” Anakin began but was silenced by the older Jedi.

“I know what you did, Anakin. But that’s not what I meant. Even when immersed in the Dark Side, you sought to atone for your sins and here you are, risking it all for another chance. How many can boldly say that they could do something such as this? For that, I am proud of you.” The Jedi maverick said softly, “Anakin, you are the Chosen One. I’m sure of it now.”

“Oh…!” Anakin groaned wrenching himself out of Qui-Gon’s grasp, “You are the only one who still believes that, Qui-Gon. You should have just let me live my life on Tatooine.”

“It would have been for the best.” Anakin muttered to himself, “Padmé would still be alive now, even if I was not a part of her life.” Anakin shook his head in remorse.

“If I had left you on Tatooine, then Padmé would have succumbed to that assassination that you thwarted in Coruscant. Don’t forget that.” Qui-Gon calmly retorted.

Anakin looked away, “Yes, I saved her, and for what, I ended up killing her in the end.”

The maverick Jedi master tried to console the man he still saw a boy, “Anakin, nobody is perfect. You’re blaming yourself for things that were well planned and tailored to be your downfall.”

“I’m way past blaming myself, Qui-Gon. I have learned to accept who I am, what I am. I’m a monster that doesn’t deserve mercy.” Anakin reaffirmed.

“No.” The old master said firmly, “You’re just as human as everyone else. We all just came to expect a lot from you, placing a burden so heavy that we could not bear hoping that you could, meanwhile never noticing the dark corner that Palpatine manipulated you into.”

“That psychopath you call master is the one to blame for all this, he carefully planted seeds of mistrust within you and then took advantage of your emotional state. Would you have submitted to the Dark side if he hadn’t promised you that he would help Padmé?” Qui-Gon asked him carefully. When there was no immediate answer as Anakin’s features turned towards nervousness, Qui-Gon nodded, “I didn’t think so.”

“That doesn’t justify any of my crimes, Qui-Gon.”

“No, it doesn’t. It just means that you sought power for the sake of love and not for the sake of lust. There’s a difference.” Qui-Gon said gently and placed a hand on Anakin’s shoulder and smiled.

Anakin shook off the hand and walked away sulking, “Why does it matter what I did for what reason? I still killed her, Qui-Gon. My own wife, my love, I killed her.” His voice broke in the end.

Qui-Gon gave the younger man a long peering look and then he nodded, “Come, let me show you a few things.”

* * *

**_Tatooine-_ **

The Force ghosts of Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin Skywalker appeared on the desert, they walked over the sand dunes and they set their sights on a residence far away, a dome made out of pourstone. The night sky was full of stars and the moon gave a faint light.

Qui-Gon strode forward, towards the residence, while Anakin stood by and watched in revulsion at the planet. His mother’s resting place was here and he didn’t want to go over there, in fear. What would his mother think of him? The one woman who was always proud of him, who always loved him no matter what. Another failure of his life. He hated this place, she had died here, the Lars family had given up the search, he never forgave them for that.

He quietly followed Qui-Gon into the homestead. Into the main living pit, a crater, housing a courtyard from which several doors led to various rooms, lofts and areas. Qui-Gon strode through the door of one of the rooms and headed in, he numbly followed behind the Jedi master.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a bed, in which a young boy was sleeping soundly. The boy looked familiar to him, but he was certain that he had never seen him before.

“Who is the boy?”

Qui-Gon looked at him in the dark, thanks to their appearance as a ghost, he could see everything, “His name is Luke Skywalker.” The world stopped for Anakin at those words, he stood there in rigid shock.

“It can’t be…” He gasped in horror as the realisation hit him like a speeder, “Padmé…” He held his head in his hands.

Anakin tentatively took a step forward and then another step and then another, until he was by the bed. He went on one knee and placed his ethereal hand on Luke’s forehead to caress his son soothingly. But the hand passed right through Luke’s skin, and that was it, he snapped.

“AHHHHHHH!!!” Anakin yelled in sheer anguish.

Qui-Gon simply looked away at Anakin’s grief. Telling a heartbroken father that he had a son from a wife that he thought he killed by accident was nothing anyone prepared him for. He could only watch helplessly as Anakin sobbed in strangled intervals. There weren’t many things that would make a grown man with such massive power in the Force break down and cry out in such grief.

The Jedi master was broken out of his musing just as Anakin out of his fit when the light in the room was switched on. Both Force ghosts looked at the young boy in the bed who was sitting up on the bed looking around the room suspiciously.

Even Qui-Gon felt great sadness when he heard Anakin plead.

“Luke, I’m right here, I’m here. Please look at me. I’m right here.” Anakin begged the young boy to see.

Just as the boy once again switched off the light, Anakin yelled again, “NO! NO! I’m right here. I’m here…”

Qui-Gon walked over to the crying man and placed a hand on his shoulder, “He can’t see you or hear you, Anakin.”

“B-b-but he felt my presence. He felt it.” Anakin tried to make him see, as if he hadn’t seen it.

Qui-Gon beheld him sadly, “I know. I know.” The Jedi master reassured him, “But he’s not trained in the ways of the Force, he lacks the control to perceive you.” Anakin stared at him helplessly and then once again at his son for a few long moments, and sunk to the floor in wailing resignation.

After for how long neither didn’t know, Anakin stood up and strode out in rage. The Jedi master followed the chosen one outside to the desert dunes, where Anakin stopped for a moment and then let out a loud scream into the vast desert, “ARGHHH!!!”

Anakin once again sunk to the floor, this time into the sand and asked as the Jedi master approached him from behind, “Why did you bring me here? Why? Is this my punishment?”

“I brought you here to show you that you didn’t kill your wife like you seem to believe.” The Jedi master’s words rang true. He felt like he had just fallen from a mountain cliff. Broken.

Of course, Sidious had lied to him.

“Sidious lied to me...” Anakin spoke of it in a whisper.

“He lied to me. That kriffing son of a whore…” Anakin exploded in rage as he hurled expletives at his former master, "I'll kill him. I'll make his regret ever being born."

Qui-Gon spoke his next words very carefully, “He never spoke the truth to you, Anakin. He has only fed lies to you from the first day.”

When his temper had eventually calmed down, he looked at the Jedi master. “How did she die? How did Padmé die?” Anakin asked sadly.

“In childbirth. She lost the will to live. Seeing Obi-Wan she understood that he must have won the duel, she assumed that you were dead. She didn’t want to live knowing that you wouldn’t be there.” The Jedi master explained to Anakin.

Anakin looked like he was struck, “I killed her. Oh…Padmé… I killed her. I killed her in my own way.”

“I’m sorry, Anakin. I truly am. But remember, you have a chance to make this right, to change everything. You just have to will yourself to take it.”

“For what? So that I can fail everyone again?” The Jedi master could see that Anakin had resigned himself to misery, he got the feeling that Anakin intended to stay behind and watch his son grow. A father’s love could be a great thing, having had no father himself, Anakin would only hope to guide his son to greatness.

Qui-Gon thought for a long moment and then walked over the kneeling form of the Chosen One, “Come with me, there’s one more thing you have to see.”

* * *

**_Alderaan-_ **

Anakin knew this place; he had come to it once when he was a Jedi. He was with Padmé; they came here with Bail Organa. He recognised the royal palace garden, he remembered sharing a kiss with Padmé one afternoon such as this. He thought, he had gotten over it, the grief, but he was wrong, he had merely suppressed it.

Luke, his son was alive, on Tatooine of all places, but now, he was without power to meet him. The only thing he had left of Padmé, knowing that he could never be his father, the father Luke would want him to be, it killed his soul.

So lost in his thoughts, he failed to realise that Qui-Gon had stopped, he came to a halt when he realised that he had walked past the old Jedi. He turned around to the Jedi master only to see him staring past him. That’s when he heard it, someone shooting a blaster bolt. He followed Jinn’s gaze to a young girl clothed boyishly, lying on the green grass on her belly, her arms stretched out and a blaster pistol firmly in her hand. The girl was aiming it on a dampened blaster-resistant metal target. Every shot was right on target, right at the centre of the target.

He looked at Qui-Gon who prompted him to walk closer with a slight nod of his head. He walked closer and closer to the girl until he circled to her front and he saw her. She had Padmé’s eyes and her hair. Could this be?

Anakin walked forward and kneeled in front of the girl; her blaster bolts went right through his ethereal form. He hesitantly reached out and placed his hand on the girl’s cheek. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to touch her, he lost that right when he hurt her mother.

As if she was touched, the girl immediately stopped her practice and brought her own hand right where he had placed it. She could feel his presence, he took comfort from that truth. He projected his love towards his daughter and he could tell that she had felt it. She sat up and looked around but found no one.

Qui-Gon walked closer to him, just as he smiled fondly at his baby girl while holding back tears, “She has her mother’s eyes.”

Qui-Gon smiled sadly at him, “And your nose and jawline.”

Now that he mentioned it, he couldn’t help but compare. Anakin’s smiled brightened through the tears as he leaned forward and he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead like his own mother used to kiss him. His daughter looked stiff as if she had felt his kiss. Maybe she had a stronger connection to the Force than Luke.

“What’s her name?” He asked Qui-Gon.

“Leia…” The man answered softly.

“Luke and Leia. I never got to hold them in my arms, or hear them utter their first words, or see them take their first steps.” Anakin lamented in grief, “It’s all my fault.”

“Do they know who they are? About me? About Padmé?”

The Jedi master hesitated but answered truthfully, “No.”

“My wife gave birth to twins before dying. My children have no idea about me or Padmé. They have no idea that they are twins. Both of them are living separately, far apart, one in poverty, the other in privilege. And I am now powerless to do anything about it.”

“Then go and change it!” Qui-Gon snapped harshly.

The maverick Jedi master had enough of this self-pity, “You have the chance to change it Anakin. If you wish to prevent this life for your children, if you wish to see your wife again, watch your children grow up, and spend your life with them, then go back and change the past.”

Anakin simply stood up, said nothing to the Jedi master who had freed him from slavery and walked away. The Jedi master who watched the Chosen One walk away sighed tiredly.

Qui-Gon slowly followed the former slave boy from Tatooine to the other end of the garden, where a circular plot surrounded by a glazed wall, with a statue at the centre. A pure white marble statue nestled in ivy. It was the statue of Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo. Not knowing how Anakin knew of the statue’s existence, he stood at the entrance, watching. The Jedi master found Anakin on his knees in front of the statue and decided to give the husband and wife some space.

Anakin was on his knees in front of the statue of his wife, “I’m sorry, Padmé.” He muttered, “I’m so sorry.”

“I have no right to ask you to forgive me, and I won’t. Not after what I put you through, not after what’s happened to our children. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

“I just want you to know that I love you. I will always love you with all my heart for all eternity.”

* * *

“What should I do, Qui-Gon?” Anakin asked, now determined in his heart and in his mind.

Qui-Gon held him in a stern gaze and spoke firmly, “Learn.”

The consciousness of all the Jedi and Sith and Force users who had become the part of the Living Force were here. They could feel them. Their presence was like stars on a night sky, numerous in number and bright in power. Mysteries of the Force could be learned here. The art of eternal balance could be learned here.

He was no longer Darth Vader, he was Anakin Skywalker, he was going to learn, he had already decided to, whether the Force saw fit to give him another chance or not.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has been in my laptop for about two years now, I didn’t know how to proceed past this at the time, but now I’m giving this a try now. I’ll do my best.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Star Wars or any characters, George Lucas and Disney do…  
> I know this story is kind of a cliché time-travel story, set on the prequel era. Focuses mainly on Family, Romance and Adventure. Let’s see how this goes…

**_Jedi Temple Coruscant (27BBY)-_ **

_"Mom. What if you want to do something good, but it's hard? Or what if you want to help someone, but you're afraid?"_

_"Helping others isn't always easy, is it? If people paid us to be good, the galaxy would be overflowing with kindness. But most of the time there isn't much reward, and sometimes it even costs us dearly to do good things." Shmi replied to her son with a proud smile._

_"Yeah. What if it costs so much that it hurts?"_

_Shmi thought for a moment before explaining confidently, "I think we should do it anyway. Make it a habit, like eating or breathing. Once you do, you'll hardly even notice the cost."_

Anakin’s eyes flung open as he sat upon his bed with a loud gasp of breath, and he continued to breathe hard as his heart raced violently. He tried to get up, only to stumble out of balance and falling off the bed and collapsing on to the floor. He desperately tried to get up only for his arms and legs to fail him, as he once again fell on the floor. Having lived without limbs for thirteen years, the sensation of feeling his real limbs was overwhelming.

The memory of his mother’s words fresh in his mind, he struggled to sit up and succeeded. The moment he managed to sit up, resting his back on the side of the bed, tears fell as silent sobs stumbled out.

Anakin needed to get out of here, he needed something to sober him up, he crawled out and hurried into the refresher managing not to step on the droid parts laying littered on the floor of his room. Inside, he stretched his hand and turned on the shower and sat under the water, in his nightclothes.

The cold water didn’t soothe him, neither did it sober him, it ached him, deep in his heart.

“Mom…” He whispered.

His throat clenched in and out as he let himself go; the tears came out as ragged sobs as he remembered the future. The Clone Wars, his fall to the Dark Side, Padmé’s death, thirteen years of painful sustenance and then his own suicidal death, followed by revelations of his children that he never knew. All of it was too much, too much, he couldn’t bear it. It felt like a nightmare.

He couldn’t reach the Force, couldn’t release his emotions into the Light side so that he could feel relief. It was as if the Force was not there, he couldn’t feel it at all. He had no choice but to feel his feelings, endure through it and wail endlessly under the muffling noise of the shower. He curled up his legs to his chest as tightly as he could and bury his face into the crook, as he suffered.

* * *

Hours later, Anakin awakened and shivered violently as he was cold, he was sprawled on the cold floor, he curved into a ball to try and regain some heat, but it didn’t help. The water of the shower was still pelting him, the cold water wasn’t allowing him any comfort.

Anakin tremblingly stood up, gathering whatever energy he still had and walked out of the refresher turning the shower off. He walked into his chamber, holding the sides with his arm. His clothes were drenched and it didn’t help things at all.

Anakin stripped out of his clothes and he fell on the bed, pulling the covers to warm himself. His hair was still soaked, but he didn’t have the strength or the patience to dry it. Sleep came swiftly as Anakin dreamed of his past future.

_“You are the Chosen One.” Qui-Gon spoke confidently._

_Anakin replied tiredly, the discovery of his children had drained the fight in him, “No, I’m not. I never wanted any part of it. Sorry, if I do make it back, my priority will be Padmé and the twins.”_

_Anakin was now certain that he would travel to the past, if only to give his children and Padmé a better life, even at the cost of his own life. But he had no intention of being the Chosen One or fulfilling any damn prophecy, the Jedi can do whatever they want with it. It had destroyed his life once; he wasn’t going to let it destroy his second chance._

_“You are who you are, you cannot deny it. Many have tried to deny their destiny, all have failed.” Qui-Gon lectured him._

_“I’m just someone born with an unnaturally high midi-chlorian level. Will you leave it at that?”_

_“Still planning on denying it, are you?”_

_“Yes…”_

_Qui-Gon sighed and began explaining, “Before Ossus, I could never manifest myself in the form of an ethereal presence Anakin, I lacked the training for it, I could only speak to the living who are strong in the Force, to those who wish to hear me. And yet, the Force allowed me to manifest in the mortal plane. The Force led me to that Holocron in Ossus. It wanted me to lead those men in the Imperial Exploratory Team to the Holocron. I did. Then when the Inquisitor came to Ossus to take the Holocron to Sidious, the Force told me not to worry. And then, when it wouldn’t open when Sidious commissioned it to be destroyed. The Force told me to whisper of it to you when you were in the Bacta tank when you were the farthest away from the grip of the Dark side.”_

_“The Force led me to you, Anakin. Of all the people in the galaxy, it led me to you. Yoda could have opened it, in the near future, your son or daughter could have learned how to open it. Regret is not hard to feel, and in their case, they could have a lot to regret about. And yet, the Force adamantly led me to you. Why?”_

_“If you’re not the Chosen One, why does the Force keep choosing you?” Qui-Gon demanded._

_Anakin had no answer, he was too shocked by the revelation to form a rational thought in his head._

_Qui-Gon grabbed his sides and counselled him firmly, “Son, listen. You are the Chosen One, I believe it. I won’t ask you to believe it, but I’ll ask you not to disregard it out of hand. Whether you like it or not, you have a duty to yourself, to your loved ones, to the galaxy. I was destined to find you and I believe I was chosen to guide you here; I am fulfilling mine. I know that you have a destiny, I beg of you to fulfil yours.”_

* * *

Anakin woke up with a groan, his head was pounding. He rolled on his bed over and over again. Never one to be idle, he quickly sat up. The memories rushed to him; he scanned the room and found the clothes that he had discarded a few hours ago. He realised that it wasn’t a dream. He really was in the past and he really had broken down into a sobbing mess last night.

There was no mirror in the room, so he couldn’t look at his own reflection to tell how old he was. Jedi weren’t supposed to have attachments, or personal possessions or care too much about physical appearances. And at that age, he hadn’t care how he had looked either, in his spare time, most of the days he was covered in grease as he worked on his droids.

His right arm was still attached to him, which meant that this was long before Geonosis. Anakin sighed and took a deep breath to think. He paced inside his own room, back and forth. He was loving the fact that he could breathe fresh air through his lungs without feeling pain inside. He was enjoying that he still had all his limbs intact, he had missed them greatly.

As he paced, the most important question emerged in his mind, why had the Force sent him here, why now. That’s when it clicked ‘when’ is ‘now’?

He rummaged through the untidy room for his Chrono and he found it, he quickly checked the time, date and year. The year was twenty-seven BBY, fourth month, ninth day. It was still early in the morning.

Now that he knew the time, date and year, he made a quick calculation. He was fifteen years old by now. Then the question once again came, why had the Force sent him here? What was the point in sending him this far back? It could have sent him to the start of the Clone Wars, and he would have done everything to stop it.

Before he could muse further, his stomach growled. He realised that he was hungry, he quickly went to the refresher and then dressed himself properly and then he rushed to the Padawan refectory.

At the refectory, he got himself some hardboiled hawk-bat eggs, some Jogan fruits and a large fill of juice. Having suffered over a decade of intravenous nourishment, he had forgotten taste. The explosion of taste that he felt was truly intoxicating. He never realised how much he had come to miss this; he savoured every bite and ate to his heart’s content. Experiencing these little things that he had come to miss over the next two decades brought a certain sense of joy.

As he left the refectory, he began musing again, lost in his thoughts. He carefully nudged the Force and it responded with bubbling energy; it came to his call almost instantly. He breathed a sigh of relief, early this morning, he hadn’t been able to feel the Force at all, but now, he felt it all around him. It was as if his connection to the Force was amplified, his connection was deeper and stronger, much stronger than he had ever felt before. The awareness somewhat eased his troubled mind.

Room of a Thousand Fountains. Anakin had no idea how he had reached here, or why he had come here, he had simply roamed and found himself at the entrance of the large greenhouse. The Force hummed in approval. He no longer felt like trying to fight or bend the Force to his will as he usually did when using the Dark side. Every time, he used the Dark side, he would have to promise something to it to get its cooperation, even if it comes to your aid, it was never without a price. Sidious himself had this problem, bending the Force to their will, that was the requirement of the Dark side. On the other hand, the Jedi followed the Force, in whatever direction the Light side went, they simply followed it without question. He had to find a balance between the two sides.

Anakin proceeded towards the waterfall and sat cross-legged on the grass nearby and decided to meditate. He needed to listen to the Force, he may not fully trust it yet, but he was willing to try after all the Force had given him another chance in life.

Balance was hard, the Dark side tempted him and the Vader in him was pushing him to surrender to its power. The Light side was dispassionate, Anakin had to hold on to the regret and remind himself of the cost to fight off the temptation, his ego helped just as much his conscious efforts, surrendering to the Dark side meant being its slave, and he was no one’s slave.

He needed a plan, an immediate plan to start. Anakin Skywalker hated being idle, he needed to keep himself occupied, however, he felt the need to be productive. Knowing what’s up ahead of them, he had to prepare.

His first priority was Padmé and his mother, he needed to keep them safe, he didn’t come all the way back in time only to let them die again. If their security became a certainty, then his next priority was the galaxy’s safety. And at last the Jedi, he may be disillusioned with the Order’s current path, but he had no intention of slaughtering younglings or massacring them. Unlike Palpatine, they at least tried to help the galaxy with the power they had at hand, instead of craving for more power.

The problem for these plans was that him being a Jedi was restrictive, Anakin needed to move and be flexible if he were to accomplish these, he didn’t need the Order breathing down his neck and using him as a weapon. Too long he had been a slave, too long his life hadn’t been his to live. He would be his own master and he would make his own destiny.

Anakin had no idea how long he had meditated, but when he finally let up, he was at peace. Having reviewed everything, he was aware that Obi-Wan was still his master in this time here and currently the Jedi Knight was on a mission alone, leaving him to learn with the other padawans under Master Yaddle. Anakin had decided not to attend the class, opting to spend the time on his meditation.

He checked his Chrono, the class would have been over by now, he made his way to find Master Yaddle, he needed to lay some groundwork for his most immediate plan before Obi-Wan returned. On the way, he shielded his mind the same way Palpatine had taught him to shield it from the Jedi, he had never really found any use for it since when Palpatine had taught it to him, the Jedi Order was no more, but now, he was thankful that he had the opportunity to learn it.

* * *

Master Yaddle had invited him into her quarters after questioning briefly about him missing her class. To which he chose not to answer but responded to by saying that he needed her counsel.

Anakin sat on his knees across her and he channelled worrisome thoughts and carefully shielded his real intentions. He released some of his worrying thoughts into the Light Side of the Force and felt it disappear. He knew Master Yaddle will notice him trying to relax via the Light side to keep his suspicion off him. He was a little worried about his facial expressions considering that he spent a decade behind his mask, but he quickly eased himself by adopting a stoic look.

“Worried you are, padawan Skywalker.” Master Yaddle stated calmly.

“Yes, master Yaddle.”

“Hmmm…clouded it is, your future. Hmmm…” She again stated wisely.

“What worries you, padawan?” She asked in a monotone.

Anakin steadied himself, “I’ve been having visions of my mother, master. I see her dying. Every night for the last few nights, the same thing over and over again.”

Master Yaddle nodded in agreement, “I sense, fear. Ruled by fear, you are. To let go, you must learn.”

“She is my mother and she could be dying. If I’m supposed to let go, why is the Force showing me this vision? Why show me, if I’m not meant to save her?” Anakin sounded outraged, which was not very difficult to fake.

“Worry yourself, you must not. Death, a part of the natural order, it is.”

Anakin lowered his head and briefly allowed himself to be filled with rage. The Jedi master quickly sensed his frustration and added, “Succumb to rage, you must not. Tempt it will, the Dark side.”

“But-”

“Meditate on this, I will.”

Anakin knew when he was being dismissed, he quickly nodded his head and stood up walking away, while releasing his emotions into the Light side to ease Master Yaddle, who he knew would sense it.

* * *

He decided that he would save his mother and the Lars family if he had to, for looking after Luke if not for his mother. His plan had gone along smoothly. Master Yaddle had discussed his dream with the High Council and the council members unanimously decided that he should learn to control his emotions and let go of his attachment. He knew that this is the decision that they would arrive at, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when they called him to before the council and lectured him.

And just as he had planned, he had lashed out at them when they told him to reign himself and got himself kicked out of the meeting. And now, Obi-Wan was back, and his fear had come true.

Obi-Wan and he shared a bond, the master padawan bond, the one Anakin in this time had built over the years. Shielding his thoughts from Obi-Wan was extremely difficult, but he was very careful, he hoped that it would be enough.

And now, he stood before the Council along with Obi-Wan who had been briefed about his behaviour and his issues. They were addressing how to resolve this, he waited until Obi-Wan and the rest of the Council exchanged their views and gave him a turn to speak.

“Masters, I ask you the same thing I asked master Yaddle. You say that we must follow the will of the force, but if the Force did not wish for me to act on it, why did it show me the vision, to begin with?”

“It is not your place to question the ways of the Force or the Council, padawan.” Master Eeth Koth stated firmly.

“We understand your concern, you had this attachment before you were brought to the Order. We will not fault you for your life before you were discovered by Master Jinn, but we must ask you to let your attachment go. It is hard, we understand, but as a Jedi, our duty is to the galaxy and not ourselves. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” The Quermian master Yarael spoke diffusively.

Anakin stared at the Council with unhidden sadness, he was hoping that Mace Windu would speak, so that he can put the master in place, but he was letting his personal opinion to rule him. This was the best time to enact his plan.

Anakin went on one knee and lowered his head to stare at the floor, “I respectfully disagree masters. Love is the greatest force in the galaxy, even stronger than Force itself. If I have to give up my love for my mother to be a Jedi, perhaps I’m not fit to be a Jedi.”

Anakin took his lightsaber and activated it with a snap-hiss. He carefully cut off his padawan braid in a swift touch. He deactivated the blade and placed it on the floor before him and his braid beside it.

“I thank you all for taking the time to teach me as best as you can for all these years. I’m sorry, but I’m not the Chosen One as Master Jinn had hoped I would be. I’ll leave the temple as soon as I can.”

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan hissed at him in shock.

He was sorry that he couldn’t see the faces of the Masters, but he quickly stood up and turned to Obi-Wan and spoke firmly, “I am sorry, master.” With that, he swiftly turned around and walked away, his mother’s words echoing in his mind, _‘Don’t look back, Ani. Don’t look back.’_

Obi-Wan and the Council only stared at the lightsaber that he had relinquished and the braid that he had cut off.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this chapter. I did some research, and I have a general plan for what I’m going to do, but I will take your suggestions. I'm kind of restarting this after a long time, so bear with me if its out of tune in some places.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Bortras (Brema Sector)-_ **

Anakin stepped out of the supply transport as it landed on the Capital city Reithcass. He didn’t wait for the crew, he simply walked into the pelting rain and proceeded towards the customs portal with his bag secured on his back.

It had taken him nearly thirteen days and three separate transports to get here. He had sold what little droid parts he had in his room to a junk shop owner in Coruscant. It got him about fifty credits, but that wasn’t nearly enough to get him here. He had to get a desirable trade barter from the Darkknell System to get here, he had told them that he was a mechanic and they had him repair a light cruiser’s entire radiation shielding outer shield shell without the proper tools to convince the crew to allow him to tag along.

The Captain had, in fact, offered him a job to get him to stay, apparently, the man had about three other smaller ships that needed restoring, the man assured him that his pay would be good. He had to gently decline the offer.

The reason he had come here was simple, there was a ship here that he could steal. It would be a trek, but there was an abandoned Bendine Corporation hangar six hundred and fifty miles west of Reithcass.

He knew because when he was Vader, he had tracked a rebel crew who had travelled here to take the ship in the hangar to flee undetected. The rebels had used a decoy ship piloted by a droid which the TIE fighters had destroyed, while they had cleverly used another ship to slip past them unnoticed.

Afterwards, his men had stormed the hangar and found two other similar ships and several other attachment pods. When his men had returned with a full report, he had ordered the TIE fighters to commit to a full gun run on the hangar, which was swiftly carried out and the hangar was bombed out of existence.

The ships in question were XR68 starships, an outdated model, but then again, he was about to steal them, beggars cannot be choosers. Humans initially came to this planet as an emigrated species, but now, they ruled this planet. He knew he could blend in here without much trouble.

As soon as he reached the customs portal, the on-duty droid asked, “Your name, sir?”

“Luke Vader…”

“The nature of your visit, sir?”

“Business…”

* * *

It had taken him a day, but he was here. Anakin reached the remote hangar by the lush hillside and found guards at the gates, he felt their presence through the Force, there were eight of them. Not enough to stop him or even pose a problem, but more than enough to be a nuisance. The hangar was supposed to be abandoned. He was mentally kicking himself; the hangar was abandoned in 9BBY, anything could have had changed in between now and then. It could have been anything, he had stupidly expected it to be empty. Furthermore, the meagre number of guards meant two things, either whatever they were guarding was not of much value or they were trying to keep a low profile, he assumed it to be the latter.

Anakin quietly listened to the Force and came to a quick decision. He had come all the way here, and he wasn’t going empty-handed. He needed a ship and he was going to get it.

He closed his eyes and reached into the Force. Vader had force-choked people across vast distance before, so choking a few men two hundred yards away wasn’t an issue. The problem was keeping them alive, killing them would serve no purpose, he would have to be delicate.

Two hundred yards away, eight men suddenly felt a tight constricting grip on their throats. All eight of them stumbled and fell until they passed out. When they were all unconscious, he casually walked up to the gate and used Force persuasion, to awaken the gate guard and had him open the gate without triggering any alarms. The gate guard used his own retinal scan to let him inside the compound and then opened him the hangar door with his palm print. Once inside, he persuaded the mindless guard to disable the security system, alarm and the firewalls, and then erase all footages and to tie up and gag the remaining seven guards.

Anakin walked inside the hanger and found not four but five XR68 Starships. He smiled with pride.

The XR68 was an almost obsolete ship. It was 76-meter in length and 32-meter in width, the starship that could serve as both a freighter and cruiser. It sported a twin laser turret in a dorsal mount and a heavy laser cannon on its ventral side. The XR68 also had double levels and several docking ports to the side of the ship, where almost any pod can indeed be retrofitted in. The entire ship was in a shade of royal blue with gold on the fins and silver on the hull.

The hypnotised guard walked up to him, as he was securing himself a complete toolset that he knew he would need.

“Sir, it’s done.” The guard replied in a mind-controlled monotone.

“Good, go up to the secondary storeroom and find out if there’s anything useful.” Anakin barked out orders. It felt good, one of the things he had loved about being Vader was the power he had over the officers, who had to obey him. While ultimately their compliance did nothing to ease him, but he enjoyed the power at moments.

“Yes, sir.”

Anakin quickly unhooked and stripped the outer panels of the other four XR68 ships and removed the hyperdrives, energy shields generators, laser turrets, laser cannons and other invaluable spare parts. And then he systematically arranged them and secured them inside his ship. Now, in case, he needed to make repairs on board, he could do it himself with the necessary parts and not rely on someone else’s mercy at getting the said parts.

It took him about ten hours to finally get the ship ready, and the fuel cells in place. He had to do some minor modifications in the software base code to improve energy efficiency, but it was worth the effort.

That’s when the guard finally returned with a freshly assembled C1 series astromech droid. The droid gave him a generic electronic whistle, “Rweee-rwooo…”

“What’s your name?”

“Rweee…!” The clearly obsolete droid replied happily.

“C1-G12…huh?”

“Rweee…!” The droid gave a happy affirmative.

Not many knew this or they simply didn’t care, but droids had feelings because they were programmed to be friendly to the user. When they remained unused, the droids usually got very sad and inefficient. Being one of the few people who could understand and communicate in binary, Anakin understood the feeling all too much, not being wanted by anyone.

“Where did you find G12?” He asked the guard.

“Had to unpack the droid from the case, sir. The only one left behind.”

“Good.” He gave the mind-controlled guard a swift nod and then he turned his attention to the droid, “Would you like to accompany me, G12? I’ll give you regular check-ups and oil baths.”

“RWEEE…!” The droid gave an enthusiastic affirmative, the nickname helped a lot.

“Good, get in the ship.” Anakin prompted the droid, and the enthusiastic droid quickly rolled up inside.

Anakin quickly proceeded into the storeroom and found the droid’s charging unit and brought it back to install it into the ship, he would need it, if they are going to be travelling together. Once the charging station was installed for G12, he secured the tools in the toolbox. The ship was nearly ready, he just needed to make a few add-on units to the ship itself.

Anakin opened the outer hatches for two of the auxiliary pod systems and attached tether cables to the ship. Once the cables were in place, he went towards the crane and carefully used his telekinesis to unlatch to space-mining pods from their casings and attached them to the XR68. Once the retractable tethers were secured from the ship to the pods. The ship was ready.

Those Plasma-Jet Mole Miners were the reason he had come here in the first place. The only other place that he knew with better mining pods than this was in the Core worlds, in one of the Illodian colonies. Unfortunately, it was under military protection even at 6BBY, not exactly somewhere ships could be stolen from.

With that, he quickly went on to each of the guards and he waved his hand saying ‘forget about me.’ The Force took care of the rest.

Anakin numbly sat on the pilot’s seat and he switched the system on and waited for the ship to fire up, but nothing happened. The power cells were online and the auxiliary systems were already switched on, but the main engine wasn’t igniting.

“What a kriffing mess.” Anakin mumbled as he got out of the cockpit and made his way downstairs to open the main engine control lever chamber.

Anakin sat on one knee and he channelled the Force, and then he held his hand over the chamber, “TRKTRKTRK…” With a high-pitched chirping noise, he blasted the levers with dark red Sith Lightning. And that was enough to kickstart the main engine.

With a rumbling yawn, the ship came to life. He smiled as G12 secured itself in the charging station, while he made his way back to the pilot’s seat and he slowly lifted off. He concentrated on the Force and telekinetically opened the outer dome of the hanger which slid open with a screeching noise.

“G12, hold on.” The thrusters lifted the ship off the ground. and he slowly flew away into an altitude.

Once they were out of the planet’s gravity, he activated the hyperdrive and set the coordinates, the system spoke in the programmed woman’s voice, “Hyperjump in 3,2,1…”

* * *

**_Cularin System (Thaere Sector)-_ **

Anakin was meditating in the ship; they had flown out of the Corellian Run a few hours ago. They had flown past Kalarba, an hour ago. At the speed they were travelling, G12 would get them to the asteroid belt within the hour.

G12 was becoming a very useful companion, the droid was very helpful. He had to give the droid a full check-up and remove a few parts and replace them with new chips they had purchased in the last waystation, but otherwise, the astrodroid was fun to be with. It helped a lot that he could speak binary.

With the droid’s help, he was able to disable the transponder and stamp out the transponder codes in the three sublight engines left there by the Bureau of Ships and Services. Getting rid of the signal was hard, but it was worth it, considering how it made the ship’s signal signature garbled and untraceable.

Anakin was in need of money, lots of it. The quick way to earn it was to sell something of very high value to the InterGalactic Banking Clan, something they could cater to the superrich and make a nice profit. The problem was that he had nothing of such value, which was why he was here.

The Cularin System asteroid belt had high deposits of Songsteel, a rare and valuable mineral. A single kilogram of authorised Songsteel is sold in the market for 2000 credits, which means he could sell it to the companies allied with the IGBC for a good twelve hundred credits a kilo. Which means he could make more than a million credits if he got a decent pick of an asteroid that contained Songsteel.

The problem was finding the mineral in the maze of floating rocks, thankfully, Songsteel was highly luminescent and quite susceptible to Infrared. This was one of the reasons, he stole this ship, the XR68 had an in-built IR scanner. Provided with Songsteel’s molecular formula, the IR scanner could accurately pin and mark the asteroid with a significant amount of the Songsteel deposits. And with the mining pods attached to the ship, he could easily haul it into the cargo bay.

However, there was one complication, the asteroid belt was also a Force Nexus for the Dark side, if he were to stay for too long, he would become susceptible to the Dark side. But high rewards came with high risks. He will have to simply will through it.

“…rwooo…rweee…” G12 pinged him.

“We’re here? Good, G12, find a stable orbit and keep us in position.”

“Rwooo…”

“Fire the IR Scan and when you get feedback, send the data to the mining pod. I’ll go fire the pod up.”

“Rweee…”

Anakin, went downstairs and he opened the pod up and he slid in, he removed the fuel rod from the backup system and placed it into the pod’s slot. That activated the pod. He hooked on the commlink and he slid into the pilot seat of the mining pod. The pod door closed and the pod rotated in a full one-eighty degree.

“Comm check.”

“…rwooo…”

“Copy. G12, how’s it looking?”

“…rweee…”

“Are we in a stable orbit?”

“Rwooo…”

“Good. What about the IR scan?”

“Rweee…rweee…rweee…”

“Thank you.” Anakin checked the data sent to his panel and found close to a hundred possible rocks with varying grades of Songsteel with enough concentration of Songsteel for the IR scan of that intensity to reflect back.

“Pod separation in 3, 2, 1...” There was a discharge of gas and the pod separated into the vacuum of space.

Anakin activated the thrusters and he went to the closest possible asteroid. The light of the star made all the rocks slightly luminescent up close, but the system signalled him towards a singular reflective rock. The asteroid looked too big.

“G? Are you getting images?”

“Rweee…”

“Run a diagnostic scan. Check if this asteroid will fit inside the cargo hold?”

It took several minutes before G12 replied with a low disappointed rumble of, “…rweee…”

“Copy. Proceeding to the next target.”

He had to navigate through the asteroid field for another two hours before he finally came across a rock that would fit.

“Extending sleeve.” He spoke into the comm as the outer spider-like sleeve extended out of the pod and almost trapped the rock in place as he drifted along with the rock, “Engaging magnetic coupling.” The magnetised sleeve quickly sealed adhesion on to the mineral rock.

The Dark side was calling him, tugging on his frustration, but he reminded himself that Padme didn’t love Vader, that she only loved Anakin. He worked through the temptation.

“G12, activate the tether and pulls us back in.”

The droid immediately activated the tether retraction and the pod along with rock was pulled out to the ship.

“Open the cargo bay.” He called out through the commlink.

As he approached the ship, he flew the mining pod to the cargo bay and deposited the luminescent rock and disengaged the magnetic coupling. He quickly pulled out of the cargo area watched the bay door close with the asteroid inside and waited for the tether to fully retract and reattach the pod to the ship.

* * *

**_Scipio (Albarrio Sector)-_ **

The asteroid was cut and cleaned by laser. He had taken a sample of it and checked its quality with the mineral analyser kit. Only the mineral now remained a massive eight tonnes of it. If he sold this for a proper price, it would gain him a fortune.

Anakin had already sent a message to the regional branch of Dessain Mining. The company operated out of Zerist, and yet they had deep ties to the IBC, but they were also staunch supporters of the Republic and later the Empire. He had worked with them on a few occasions, most executives in the company were greedy and committed to all sorts of illegal activities for the annual profit.

He would have gone to Muunilinst to make the sale, but he knew the Dessain family and how they operated, here in Scipio, he could bend the representative they send to his will, there he would have to make do with what he got. Making deals on his own terms felt more comfortable than dealing with the unknown.

On his way here, he had to come to terms with a few things. The first one being the concept that he was not alright, despite what he kept telling himself, he wasn’t fine, and he most likely would never be fine. Him changing the timeline didn’t make his past timeline any less authentic, it had still happened to him and it was real to him. Accepting that he was a monster didn’t ease his guilt or pain any less, it helped him endure it better but didn’t help lessen the feeling.

He needed time to deal with this, time alone in peace. But now wasn’t the time to do so, he would dwell on this later. The Dark side Force Nexus was making him doubt himself.

“Rweee…” G12 gave the usual electronic whistle.

Anakin climbed up the stairs to the cockpit and sat on the pilot’s seat just in time for the ship to drop out of hyperspace and within reach of Scipio’s airspace.

A garbled message echoed, “Unauthorised aircraft, you are in Scipio airspace, identify yourself.”

“Captain Anakin Vader of Vessel Skylight. Code 5573D. Requesting permission to land.”

Half a minute later the voice in message replied, “Vessel Skylight, Code 5573D, authorised for entry. Proceed to the eastern sector for landing.”

“Copy…”

Within twenty minutes, he had landed in the eastern sector. He left G12 in charge of the ship and he walked out into the freezing cold of the snow-covered planet. The Force Illusion was in place. Anakin now looked like his 36-year-old-self to anyone within a mile from him, meanwhile, G12 will remotely hack into the Citadel of the IBC and insert a bug that would alter his face wherever his image is recorded.

As soon as he walked out of the ship, he saw a tall human man waiting for him, the man greeted him with polite courtesy, “Captain Vader?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Arvin Grawn. I represent Dessain Mining. I’m here to escort you to the chamber.”

Anakin gave a stiff nod and a gruff reply, “Very well.”

The man Arvin motioned for his men to secure the mineral, while he led him into the Citadel, a fancy chamber on the ninth floor where a Muun was waiting for him. As they entered, the two being vulnerable to his Force Illusion and Force Fear pointed him to a seat and they took their seats opposing him. This was one of the reasons he chose to make the sale on this planet, humans and Munns weren’t resistant to his Force mind-tricks, they wouldn’t even notice it.

“Captain Vader, this is the IBC banking officer Vak Tolint.”

“Hm…” He hummed in acceptance.

“We’re here to broker the sale for a fair price and profit that would make both parties very happy.” Grawn spoke in his usual placating words.

“Hm…”

Vak the Muun banker spoke rather confidently, “Captain Vader, I want you to know this, no matter where you sold this to, it would have made it to the hands of the IGBC and nowhere else.”

The banking officer asked the first question, “How much Songsteel do you have?”

“I wish to sell 7.94 tonnes of it.” He replied without giving anything away. The Munn had asked him how much he had; he had told them how much he would sell them. The Munn got his meaning, and the being smirked at him.

“What value do you expect for it?” Grawn asked softly.

“I estimate a value of 1250 credits per kilo. I estimate a net value of 9.9 million in credits.”

Grawn and Vak both laughed at him, Grawn was the one to speak, “Sorry, we cannot do that. This is not a licensed mining sale, and furthermore, you have to factor in the risk if we were to sell it ourselves to a third party. Not to mention the laser signature that _we_ have to engrave in the mineral and we have to make it so that it was mined here to legally sell it. We can do 650 credits a kilo.”

Anakin’s face a blank, he simply stood up from his seat and walked away, flaring the Force-induced fear as he left the chamber.

Grawn and Vak looked startled at his sudden departure. Just as he exited the sliding door, Grawn caught up to him and stopped him, “Captain Vader, we didn’t mean to offend you, we can be flexible.”

Anakin stopped a turned to look the man in the eye, “Flexible? If _you_ can buy it, others can buy it. I can sell this somewhere else, where I can make a profit that I am comfortable with, I’m not here to negotiate.”

“You have to understand Captain, if we sold it to you for the price you are demanding, then we ourselves will face a loss.” The Muun banker walked up to them and spoke.

“A single kilo of Songsteel is being sold at 2083 credits a kilo. You expect me to believe that you will face a loss. You didn’t mine it. You didn’t cut it or clean it. I did. I did that.” Anakin ignored the Muun and spoke to the mining company’s representative.

If they made this sale here or not, the IGBC wouldn’t lose anything, but the mining company would lose out on an opportunity to make money. And ultimately, this sale was meant for the company and not for the bank they were aligned with.

“Eleven hundred…” Grawn spoke in a whisper.

“Make it eleven fifty per kilo.”

“Done.” The Dessain company executive agreed immediately.

“That will bring the…” Grawn tried to calculate, but he swiftly interrupted the man.

“That will bring the net sum to 9.1 million. I want an account created and registered under the name Anakin Vader coded in with my retinal scan, palm print and my own passphrase. I need to be able to access the account anywhere in the galaxy.”

This time it was the Muun banker, “That’s a steep price, Captain Vader.”

“Do this and every future Songsteel and Cortosis that I mine will be routed through here. That should cover your steep price.” He bluntly spat those words to the banker.

“Perhaps, we should talk of this inside...” The banker led them back into the chamber.

Once they all took their seats, Grawn leaned closer and asked, “Cortosis? Do you have Cortosis?”

“Yes, I’m planning on selling the next shipment to the Hutts who I have a prior commitment to.” The moment he replied Grawn and Vak shared a glance at each other and then whispered amongst themselves.

Anakin once again flared Force fear on the duo, and the two began to sweat, the two then turned to him, “How do we believe you?”

He simply took a small pure black pebble-sized rock of unrefined Cortosis and tossed it to Grawn, who juggled but caught it, “Now, do you believe me?”

The banker looked unimpressed, but Grawn was easy to intimidate, the man eyed the rock and his eyes widened, “Yes, I do.” The man handed the rock back to him, but Anakin replied blankly, “Keep it.”

The rock was something they had gotten during a mission years ago, he remembered selling it to a local merchant for a price so they could hire a transport back to Alderaan when their ship was shot upon and damaged by raiders. It wasn’t until they sold it, did the local merchant who had demanded the rock, revealed to them that it was unrefined Cortosis. Now that he had left the Order, he didn’t have any use for it, he could give this to this mining company executive if it saved some credits.

The banker and the mining company executive spoke to each other in whispers until finally, the banker nodded in agreement.

The Muun banker was the one to turn to him and speak of it, “Why do you not have your own account in IGBC, Captain Vader?”

“I wasn’t the Captain until recently, but I am planning on going into business by myself. This will be an investment.”

Now that got the gleam back in the banker’s eyes. The Muuns became the force of all commerce guilds via establishing business arrangements where they used vast stores of precious metals that bankrolled colonies, trading cults and developing traffic through hyperlanes. How they acquired all these came with less than unsavoury means, with information and contacts, and by helping upcoming smugglers and ambitious captains with their private enterprise. And now, Anakin was no longer a one-time seller, he was a potential contact and facilitator.

“Do I have your word, banker Vak?” Anakin queried carefully.

The banker’s words were sweet and with respect, “I am a Muun, Captain Vader. We Muuns take our financial dealings very seriously.” There was an undercurrent of threat in it, but he simply gave an arrogant smirk as he flared the Force, and that got the banker nervous.

* * *

The Songsteel was verified and then transported to the Dessain Company location for storage. And he got his new IBC account with a little over nine million in credits deposited into it, excluding service charge and taxes to legalize a few things. G12 had done its duty, no holocam within the Citadel would pick up his face, and if it did, the image would be substituted to a different man’s facial features. As the Cargo bay door closed, he withdrew from the Force and eased in to rest.

Anakin had the electronic chip for his account in hand, coded to his retinal scan, palm print and his own voice phrase.

“G12, set course to Tatooine.”

“Rweee…”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter, I was kind of ‘reaching’ here, I know. I am not happy with this chapter either, but I can't write any better than this, so... Do let me know about the mistakes, I’m sure there are a ton of them in here, I'll correct them as best I can. Hope you liked the new droid, I came up with it so that I can write conversations of Anakin and R2, but since R2 is canonically Padme’s, I had to improvise. 
> 
> And the Red Sith Lightning, I know, I know, it was Son’s version, but I kind of wanted Anakin to be able to use it. Dooku used blue, Palpatine used purplish, I wanted Anakin to have a unique colour, so I borrowed Son’s. And the Songsteel and the negotiation, I kind of improvised there. I’ll update soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Tatooine-_ **

Skylight entered the atmosphere in a slow drift. Tatooine’s atmosphere wasn’t a dense one, he could simply zoom in without strain and land, but that wasn’t why he was drifting in. As he was closing in through the air, he was concentrating on the Force to locate his mother.

He and his mother had a bond, even after years apart, the bond existed, it may not be as strong as it used to be when he was a child, but he could always feel its presence. He didn’t know if his mother felt him, but he often felt her.

Finding the Holocron, dying, coming back in time, leaving the Jedi Order, making money and here he was. He was going to rescue his mother from this godforsaken planet, her and his stepfather and the entire Lars family.

Finally, after twenty minutes, he felt it, his mother’s distinct presence. He manoeuvred the ship towards his mother. The closer and closer he got, he started recognising the landscape, and not just the usual desert route. He soon realised what was happening, he was going towards Mos Espa.

Wasn’t his mother free? Didn’t Lars free her? What was she still doing in Mos Espa? The Lars Homestead was near Anchorhead, he was sure of it.

He landed the ship just outside Mos Espa. And he activated the security measures, if anyone wandered too close to the ship, they would be shot at by the laser turrets, the first two times would be warning shots, the third one, however, would be lethal. If they were to get to the ship despite that, if they were to touch the ship, they would get a nasty surprise. The only way to get close would be via his mobile comm, which will have the frequency to ignore him or anyone close by him.

Anakin proceeded down the bay door ramp and he walked out into the scorching desert leaving G12 inside to keep the ship. He took his money bag with him; he had anticipated that he might need to free her but didn’t think he would actually have to. The credits were exchanged into Druggats in a waystation at the last hyper-point.

Two hundred yards away, he could see the edge of the city. It didn’t take him long to enter the city, he walked towards where he felt his mother’s presence. He came to a stop at his old home, the slave quarters he used to live in, it brought back memories, but he didn’t feel her there so he moved forwards not wanting to reminisce. He walked ever so briskly towards her. The closer he got, the harder his heart started beating, at one point, he felt the heartbeat in his throat.

When he saw Watto’s shop, he realised that she was still working there. He quickened his pace and started breathing hard, but stopped at the door. The last time he had seen her, she was dying in his arms, brutalised and beaten and starved. He had put the entire settlement to the mercy of his lightsaber, even the women and children, he showed them no mercy. The memory served only to resolve his will, if anyone ever came near his mother with the ill intent of harming her, they would die. The Vader inside him raged madly.

With that in mind, Anakin entered the shop and looked around, it looked different but still the same, a faint sense of nostalgia came over him. Vader would have been disgusted, but he simply breathed it in.

“Chobaso…” The Toydarian Watto greeted him in Huttese.

“Achuta, dolpeen Anakin Skywalker.” He replied in casual Huttese.

“Skywalker, eh?” The Toydarian junk dealer laughed, “Shmi, someone here claims to be your son.”

His mother walked inside from the other room and gasped when she saw him, “Anakin?”

“Mom…” He whispered as emotions came spilling forth faster than he could control it.

Shmi walked over the counter and stood before this stranger watching him trying to choke back tears that were threatening to spill out. In a quick move, she embraced him tightly and felt him crying into her shoulder.

“Anakin.” She looked at him proudly when they separated, “You’ve grown so big.”

“Mom…” Those words, that was all he was capable of saying now.

The Toydarian watched in fascination as his favourite former slave had returned, “Ah, young Anakin, how nice of you to come by.”

Anakin still holding his mother in his arms turned to give Watto a cold glare, “I didn’t come by to chat with you Watto. I’m here to free my mother. Name your price.”

“Name my price, eh?” Watto inquired and waited only for a moment, “5000 Druggats and 5 droids.”

Anakin looked at the junk dealer confusedly, five thousand Druggats was a small fortune but it was acceptable since he had ten thousand at hand, and he could easily make a trip to the nearest hyper-point to exchange more credits into Druggats if needed. But droids? He only had one droid and that was G12, and the droid was on the ship, he was sure that Watto had no idea about G12, and he wasn’t giving up G12 to Watto, ever.

“Do you see any droids with me, Watto?”

“No, Skywalker, you will repair five of my droids and hand over 5000 Druggats.”

“What are you playing at, Watto? Why do you need me to repair five droids? Don’t you have anyone else to repair them?”

“That’s my price, boy.”

Anakin gave the Toydarian a curious look and then he looked at his mother, “Show me the droids.”

Watto led him to the inner room of the shop where the droids and its parts were littered across the room. Meanwhile, his mom asked him questions, “How are you, Ani?”

“I’m fine, mom. I’m so glad that you’re here. I missed you so much.” He gave her another tight hug.

Shmi stared into her son’s sea-blue eyes and confirmed his identity. She felt it, this was her son, there was no denying it. She felt connected to him, in mind.

“Well boy, get started. You have until dusk.” Watto spoke derisively.

Something was off, why would Watto want him to repair those droids, they weren’t worth much, not by the looks of it. He was missing something, that much was clear. In any case, he had no intention of waiting around until dusk.

He called on to the Force and he raised his hand and summoned forth his telekinesis. All the parts of the droids, all the screws, bolts and plates floated in the air. He gave a wave of his hand and they began connecting to the droids, screws began screwing, plates that were dented became smooth and clear. The assembly was over in a matter of minutes.

Three droids started working once again almost immediately. One of the two remaining droids was in sleep mode, its power core was damaged, it would have to be replaced with a new one. The other had a short circuit somewhere inside, he could feel the discharge through the Force. He went to the completely inactive droid, he went in and opened the panel near the leg, the bolt came out and levitated, he quickly patched the chip by melting away two lead guards on the side and he once again secured it inside. After that, the last droid restarted immediately.

“Watto, this one needs a new power cell, otherwise, it has nothing wrong with it. And the rest of them will be functional if looked after properly.”

The Toydarian who was flying looked at him with his mouth agape just as his mother beside him, who looked as if she had seen a ghost. It took him a moment to realise that he had used the Force to an extent nobody outside of battle ever gets to witness.

“You really are Anakin.” The Toydarian mumbled at him.

“Of course, I am.” He was now genuinely confused. Is this why Watto wanted me to repair the droids, to test him if it was really him.

The Toydarian quickly flew back into the shop’s main hall, he followed behind the flying being with his mother walking beside him, “The Red Dune Cartel has been asking me to sell Shmi to them for a while now. They offered me a thousand Druggats for her, I refused.”

The Red Dunes were a prostitution ring run by the Hutts. They were infamous for kidnapping women and forcing them into prostitution. Women, if kidnapped by them, were considered lost, even most families would choose not to pursue after them. But they operated mostly out of Mos Eisley and Mos Gamos, not out of Mos Espa. The thought that those low-life scums had tried to purchase his mother brought out a latent sense of rage from deep inside him. He released the anger into the Force and felt it disappear, which calmed him.

“I had to confirm it was you. It was possible that someone heard about you and tried to impersonate you to buy your mother.” Watto explained to him.

Watto cared? This was a shock to him. The Watto he knew was a nasty little bantha poodoo, who had him stripped and beaten even at the age of four. What had changed in the last five or so years? Why wasn’t his mother free yet? Where was Lars? Many questions came to his mind, but he didn’t have the patience to indulge in any of them.

However, one thing wasn't lost on him, Watto hadn't sold his mom to the Red Dune, for that, he was grateful. “Good to know you care. But I don’t have time for this.” Anakin replied impatiently, “We agreed on 5000…” Anakin dropped the pouch on the desk in front of Watto, “There’s 10,000 in it. For your care of her safety.”

“Now, hand over the detonator.” He urged impatiently.

Shmi gave her son a look of shock, her son had just dropped ten thousand Druggats for her, five thousand more just because Watto cared enough for her well-being. The gesture wasn’t lost on her, neither was his stance beside her, almost as if he was ready to jump in front of her if need be. Shmi felt loved and needed, which was a feeling that she never felt often, not since Anakin left with the Jedi. She silently cherished it.

“Is there any way I can convince you to stay?” Watto asked in the greedy gleam that he was all too familiar with, “With you at my side, I could collect my debts and I can finally expand my business. Do you still race?”

“The detonator, give me the detonator.” There was a dangerous edge in his voice, which frightened the junk dealing Toydarian who remembered the telekinetic display just moments ago.

The Toydarian went to a shelf and retrieved a small gold detonator, “It’s inactive since you left. But here’s the detonator.”

* * *

Shmi was quickly packing whatever she had that was worth something. Threepio and the bags that was all that she had of value in her hand. Her son was stubborn and adamant, insistent on leaving the planet. Something about nightmares and visions and Tusken raiders and her dying. No matter, how much she protested that this was her home, he wouldn’t listen, insisting that she left with him. Anakin had even destroyed the inactive detonator and vowed that he would remove the bomb in her leg as soon as possible.

She had argued with him for the better part of the last hour. She had almost made him relent, almost, until he remembered Watto’s warning about the Red Dune. She remembered the Red Dune enforcer who often came by the store to speak with Watto, she was always uncomfortable under the man’s lewd gaze. She shuddered when she realised that the man had been trying to purchase her, she was thankful that Watto hadn’t sold her.

After that, Anakin had been vehement. He had clearly stated that he wasn’t staying in Tatooine, but he wasn’t leaving without her.

Shmi walked to the door frame only to see Anakin standing outside looking awkward and annoyed at Amee, whom he clearly didn’t recognise. Shmi noticed that the bags were missing, but it wasn’t with Anakin either, maybe he already took it to the ship.

“Are you an outlander? How do you know, Shmi?” She heard Amee asking Anakin, who simply stared at her blankly.

“Amee, this is Anakin. Anakin has come back to free me, he just freed me from Watto.”

“Anakin?” Amee’s eyes positively lit up, the girl was now swooning over her son, “Hi, don’t you remember me? We used to be friends. Maybe we can be once again.”

Her son looked dismayed for a moment, almost like he didn’t know what to do with the attention. He simply kept staring blankly at Amee, until he made the poor girl uncomfortable.

“Amee, we’re leaving Tatooine. Anakin has brought a ship.” Shmi held the girl’s hands and spoke earnestly.

Amee looked between her and Anakin a few times before replying, “It’s so sudden.”

“I know. But Anakin here is insistent on it. Besides, now that I am free, I can’t live here anymore, these quarters were given to me by Watto. Why put it off?”

“How far away is the ship?” Amee asked hesitantly.

Shmi gave her son a look to which he replied, “West. Two hundred yards away from the city.”

“I’ll walk you to it.” Amee offered.

Shmi was quick to “No, dear. It’s fine. You’ll have to walk all the way back home alone. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” It wasn’t safe for anyone outside the city limit, especially women.

Threepio walked up to them and spoke, “Mistress Skywalker, everything seems to be packed and ready.” Shmi looked at the protocol droid her son had built for her, the greyish-silver plate armour that she had attached to Threepio gave the droid a more aesthetically pleasing look.

“I’m so happy for you.” Amee hugged her tightly, tears brimming.

“I’ll never forget you, my dear.” She reassured the girl she had watched grow up and come to love.

With that, she slowly turned to look at her son, who gave her a stiff smile. They said their goodbyes and walked away, as she walked to the ship with Anakin and Threepio, she couldn’t help but think about Cliegg Lars. Cliegg had first come into Watto’s shop for booster coils of a V-24 landspeeder, and then he had later come for fifty vaporator condensers. Both times, Cliegg had been kind to her and given smiles and flattering words to her when Watto wasn’t around. He had promised that he would come to free her, and she had believed him, she had allowed herself to hope. But now, she was leaving Tatooine with her son, who was clearly looking troubled, giving her sad longing glances whenever he looked at her. She reminded herself that she was leaving for her son, maybe she could make a better life for them wherever they went.

* * *

Any doubt that she had about leaving Tatooine was now gone. Shmi gently stroked her son’s hair and humming a song she used to sing to Ani before tucking him into bed when he was a child. Her Ani was curled up beside her, his head on her lap.

Her baby boy needed her more than she needed him, as a mother it was her duty to care for her child, no matter how old he was.

Ani had lasted about two hours. The ship was now moving in hyperspace, the next hyper-point was in ten hours. Once autopilot had been turned on, Ani had made a comm call to Naboo, and then they had lunch together. They had Nerf steak, Nuna stew and Muja fruit cake for dessert and some pear juice. She had never eaten something so delicious in a long time, having lived many years on rations, she enjoyed her son’s attempt at impressing her and desperately searching for her approval. Her son always found ways to give her gifts, even when they had nothing, Threepio was such a gift too, her son had re-built that droid just for her sake.

After lunch, she had asked him. And then as if the dam broke, he held onto her and cried and cried as he told her everything until he fell asleep on her lap exhausted. Even after everything, he was still her baby boy.

Anakin had told her about his past, how he had become a Jedi Knight and fought in the war, how he had married the Padme girl in secret and how she was pregnant, how he fell to the Dark side whatever that was, how he spent the next thirteen years serving as the most ruthless enforcer for the evil Emperor until he found a way to come back in time to change it all. She initially didn’t know what to make of it, her son had come back from the future, to save her and to save himself. Her mind told her not to believe it, but her heart spoke otherwise, she hadn’t picked up anything deceiving from her son, she could tell that he was being truthful, albeit maybe a bit stingy with the details.

She reminded herself to think about what happened to her in his life, she had married Cliegg Lars and moved in him to his home near Anchorhead, only to be kidnapped by those dreadful sand people and then tortured to death, dying in her son’s arms. No wonder Ani held onto her like she was a dream, that if he let go that she would disappear.

Anakin had born to her without a man, she had always considered him a gift from the gods. Considering that, she had to ask herself, was anything not possible?

She hadn’t told her Ani about Cliegg, she didn’t even know if he would come and free her, apparently, he would have if Ani hadn’t come back. Ani had actually been prepared to take the entire Lars family with them if she was married to Cliegg. Marriage, she didn’t know that Cliegg wanted to marry her, the moisture farmer did speak about freeing her, but marriage, she hadn’t expected it. She hadn’t told Ani about any of these and yet, he still knew. That knowledge alone gave credence to his story.

What if Anakin had really come back in time? What then? Once the question emerged, acceptance came easier.

They were now travelling to Naboo, where Anakin was hoping for them to immigrate to, and settle down, opening up the droid shop of their own, under the names Shmi and Anakin Vader. She wasn’t happy about the new surname, the name she had chosen as hers, the name Skywalker was all she had that she could pass down to her son. To give up that name, it irritated her. She quietly took some calming breaths and reminded herself that the name was only temporary, that once all the threats are removed, whatever her son meant by that, they can once again be the Skywalker family.

She sighed softly and kept stroking the hair of the sleeping boy, her son maybe older in his mind, but on the surface, he looked like a teenager and acted like it. She was proud of him, her son, no matter what he had done in the past, no matter how he seemed to think that he didn’t deserve her love, she was proud of him. Her boy had fought his way back until he found a way to atone for his mistakes, even if it meant to go back in time. How many mothers can boast that her son has defied time itself? She was proud of her Ani.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of wanted to take the Lars family off-world with Anakin and Shmi too, but then I couldn’t figure out what to do with them. I mean, they are always going to be moisture farmers to me, I can’t get that image of the family out of my head, I can’t think of anything they could do to improve the story I have in mind, so I decided to edit them out. And Watto became kinder by the time he sold Shmi to Lars, Shmi seemed to think that he missed Anakin.  
> The droid repair scene was inspired by the Dumbledore repairing Slughorn’s room scene in HP the half-blood prince. Hope you don’t mind that…


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Shmi settle on Naboo, he gets to speak to Padme...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own Star Wars or any characters, George Lucas and Disney do…  
> I know this story is kind of a cliché time-travel story, set on the prequel era. Focuses mainly on Family, Romance and Adventure. Let’s see how this goes…

**_Skylight-_ **

Anakin was trying to reign in his rage. It was becoming harder and harder with time. When he first came back, the idea of having a second chance was more than enough to keep him away from the Dark Side, but now, since he already had hope, the thought of losing that was making it harder to keep himself rooted. The only thing that kept him away from it now was his pride, giving in to the Dark side meant being a slave to the Dark Side, and he wasn’t planning on being anyone’s slave anymore.

His mother was now safe aboard his ship, they were on their way to Naboo. But now, he was worried. As Darth Vader, he had nothing to lose, he had already lost everything he ever valued. He had failed in saving his mother, Obi-Wan had nearly killed him, he had unwittingly caused the death of his wife, he never knew that he had children. As such, giving up on the light and embracing the darkness within was easier.

Now, he had hope, his mother was safe with him, soon he hoped that he will have Padme in his life, all of these only served to worry him more. For now, he had everything to lose. That fear he felt of losing them all over again was palpable. It was this fear that had driven him to become Darth Vader in the first place, he now had an excess of the same fear in him, it left him feeling unhinged. Releasing these emotions into the Force wasn’t helping him at all, not when his mind wandered back to it once again.

His rage at the moment wasn’t however targeted at the existential threat of falling to the Dark side again, he had more than enough time to worry about it later. His rage at the moment was towards the Jedi Order.

Apparently, his mother had sent him a holo message to the Jedi Council on Coruscant with a hundred credits that she had saved some time after the Battle of Naboo when Watto had heard about the death of Qui-Gon on Naboo.

The Council had not only neglected to tell him what his mother had said in the message, they hadn’t even bothered to inform him about the message itself. It angered him to no end. He had never found out about this in his last life. The Jedi were supposed to be the peace-keepers following the Light side, were they not? A hundred credits to send a message to Coruscant, that means his mother most likely starved for weeks as a result. Any remaining doubts he had about leaving the Order evaporated away in that instant, the Jedi can die for all he cared, he would not bother with them any longer.

Anticipation grew in the cockpit of the ship; he checked his Chrono again to make sure. The scheduled meeting with Padmé would be up in a few more minutes.

Securing an appointment to speak with the queen of a planet like Naboo was nigh impossible, he had been trying for weeks now. They first had to screen his call and scrutinise it for bugs and encryptions. And then they had to find out if Anakin Skywalker was a real person which wasn’t hard considering many knew the story of him accidentally destroying the Droid Control Ship during the battle of Naboo not too long ago. And then, to see if he was the real Anakin Skywalker himself, they had brought in Sabé to try and confirm his identity, she and the secretary had asked him questions only he could answer. About Tatooine, about the hyperdrive they had acquired from Watto, about Qui-Gon, about Obi-Wan and so many other questions. When he answered them all correctly, they had deemed him legitimate. After that, they had tried to get him to leave a message, and when he kept persisting despite that, finally, he was allotted a three-minute call and made it clear that it was only because Padmé had wished to speak to him.

Anakin asked G12 to record him and to make Padmé visible to him, to which G12 gave an enthused electronic beep and whistle. Finally, the time came and he placed the comm call to the Nubian frequency he was given.

He waited in anticipation, a moment later the hologram image appeared, but it wasn’t Padmé, it was the secretary Asha, the image of the woman spoke, “I am sorry Mister Skywalker. The queen is busy with another appointment. Do you wish to postpone this call to another time, or could I take a message?”

Anakin couldn’t help but sport his disappointment on his face, which he was sure that the woman was seeing, he shook his head. What was he expecting? Contacting the queen of a planet to ask her for a favour wasn’t a good idea, to begin with. He long ago realised that, but he was so keen on seeing her again, he hadn’t allowed himself to think that his plan was indeed stupid.

“No. I do not wish to postpone this call. And no, I do not have a message. Thank you for…everything.” He sighed and terminated the call, while completely unaware that Padmé was, in fact, observing him from the shadows.

* * *

**_Naboo-_ **

“Unidentified vessel, you are in Nubian airspace.” The message echoed in the cockpit, “Identify yourself.”

“I am Captain Anakin Vader of Vessel Skylight. Requesting permission to land.” He adjusted the comm signal and replied through the line.

“How many occupants are on board?” The question came with practised efficiency.

He knew that his ship was scanned the moment he entered their airspace, they were just testing if he would lie. “Two.” He answered, and then added, “And two droids.”

“Proceed to Theed spaceport 19 for inspection and clearance. The coordinate route will be sent to your onboard computer.” With that, the message ended, and the coordinates of the spaceport appeared on his nav-computer.

G12 navigated and he flew to the spaceport where they found several landing pads, where they touched down. He chose Naboo for Padmé, he would be able to stay close to her here, if she chose his company. He looked at his mother as he walked towards the ramp and decided that a new life sometimes meant a difficult choice.

Six hours of inspection and id verifications later, Anakin sat alongside his mother in front of the old spectacled Nubian officer named Ryn Skyle who had filled out their forms and then finally looked up to meet their eyes.

“What is the reason for your visit to Naboo?” The stern woman asked mainly looking at his mother.

Anakin looked at his mother and then replied firmly, “We were planning on immigrating here.”

“So, you seek citizenship?” The woman asked to clarify, once again looking at his mother.

“Yes, we do.” He replied.

The woman gave him a stern glance as if she was silencing him, and then once again turned to speak to his mother, “Do you have a trade?”

This time, his mother who noticed the look the officer had given him, she gave his shoulder a soft squeeze as if reassuring him and then she spoke, “My son here is a mechanic. He can fix anything from droids to starships. I mostly work on software codes, bug rectifications and upgradations.”

The woman gave a look that he couldn’t properly read, but his mother only smiled at the officer, “You will be put on a ninety days probationary period. During which time we will be closely monitoring your performance in economic matters. I hope you have enough funds to sustain yourself during the period of probation?”

His mother gave him a look and he immediately fished out the IBC account id chip and he held it out to the officer. She took his chip and scanned it with an electromorph card scanner. And then, she viewed the account in her monitor and looked at him with a single raised eyebrow and then with a slight nod, she returned the chip to him.

“You are eligible for probation an…”

The woman never finished as Anakin waved two fingers in front of her and she suddenly started staring into space, “You will grant us full citizenship.”

“I will grant you full citizenship.” Officer Ryn repeated in monotone, her eyes were glazed and her voice even.

Shmi looked at her son in shock. Whatever her son was doing, it was some Jedi ability, she was sure of it. But how did the stern officer immediately agree to Ani, she couldn’t tell. It only served to worry her greatly.

“You will clear us for a full ship license and security clearance.”

“I will clear you for a full ship license and clearance.” The woman repeated in monotone.

Anakin concentrated harder into the Force, the woman had a strong will, but he was stronger, “And you will clear us of any scrutiny and investigation.” This one was purely a precaution, but after many years as Darth Vader under an evil emperor, precaution was a skill well-learned.

“I will clear you of any scrutiny and investigation.” The officer spoke in a monotone.

Officer Ryn sat there staring off into blank space for a few minutes during which time neither of them disturbed her. And then, finally, she broke out of her staring on her own and she looked at them and realised that she had spaced off in the middle of an interview.

For a few minutes, the stern human woman sat and read his and his mother’s files and then she nodded to herself and stamped the orange approval forms and fixed it with the Nubian seal and attached it to their individual files.

“Welcome to Naboo.” The woman said and stood up, he followed her example and so did his mother. With that, the woman handed them the files and told them to take it to the counter outside for processing.

Nearly an hour later, he walked out having secured citizenship for himself and his mother, as well as new license to travel in and out of the planet, and the clearance card to secure his ship anywhere from government hangars to private ones.

* * *

Shmi was resting in their room. Anakin was on the ground, giving his droid G12 a check-up. They had just had dinner, but she couldn’t sleep. All of this was foreign to her, the idea of living on this planet made her nervous. It was a chance at having a new life, she understood that, and yet, it still made her nervous.

To take her mind off things, she asked her son a question, “Ani, what was the thing you used to persuade that officer?”

“Force Persuasion, mom.”

“How does it work?” Shmi couldn’t help but be curious.

She watched as her son gave her a thoughtful look, “No one has ever asked me that before. I don’t know how to explain it, mom. But basically, it’s like this, you call on the Force and then you feed it into the mind of the person you wish to persuade and then just feed your thoughts to it, the Force will take care of the rest.”

“Can you make them do anything?”

“Umm…no. I mean, if you were to ask a kind-hearted person to commit murder, it most likely would not work, because the person would not have the mental acuity to do such a thing. It has to be something that you are capable of, something you would not resist too much in doing. But there are powerful Jedi masters who are so skilled at this, that they can make people do almost anything.” Anakin explained to her.

Shmi who rubbed her chin with her fingers hummed, “And this would work on anyone and everyone?”

“Well, not just anyone, or everyone, but on most people, yes. If the victim is weak-minded, it would work very well. There are some species with complex brain chemistry and a neural network that are particularly resistant to this, the Hutts are a good example, Watto is another good example. Even so, it’s not that they cannot be persuaded by the Force, it’s just significantly harder than usual.”

Shmi mused for a short moment and then queried, “Ani, was officer Ryn weak in mind?”

“No. She had good control and a strong will.” Anakin replied honestly, “I’m just stronger in the Force.”

“Why would the Jedi even teach something so immoral?” Shmi couldn’t comprehend that the peace-keepers would use such things to achieve peace.

Anakin gave a sad sigh, “It’s better than the alternative, mom.”

“And that is…”

Ani gave her a sombre look and spoke softly, “Violence.”

* * *

Shmi walked around the house. It was big and spacious. A simple two-storey home, with a big enough hangar on the side for their speeders. Large work shed at the back for Anakin to tinker with his droids. A large piece of land around the house for a garden among other things.

She had never expected Naboo to be this beautiful, having lived in Tatooine for a long time, she truly appreciated the aesthetic beauty of the planet. Tall mountains, green fields, rivers with crystal clear water and brilliant people.

The house reminded her of the home she had when she was a child. Her parents, her sister all living in planet Axion in the Expansion Region of the galaxy. She could barely remember them, but she remembered her mother saying that her grandfather used to be a worker for the colonising company who had bought the planet and colonised it. She couldn’t remember her mother’s, sister’s or her father’s name, over even their faces, only their voices. It brought tears to her eyes. After four decades of slavery, she was finally free.

She knew that she would cherish this house, she would watch her son get married, have children of his own and her grandchildren growing up, building a life of their own. The Skywalker family would flourish here, she could see it.

The Skywalker matriarch walked to the back door and opened it to see the vast green meadows and a small stream past the meadow. Nearly an hour out of Theed, there were other houses in the vicinity.

In the distance, her son was standing there speaking to the husband and wife who were willing to sell the house to them. The family had moved to Theed a while ago, they had bought the house less than a year prior before they had decided that they wanted to live in the city.

She walked to her son who gave her a wide smile, “Mom, do you like the house?”

“Yes, Ani.” Shmi looked at the couple and said, “We’ll buy it.”

“Perfect.” The man said to them and walked away with Ani.

The young woman walked up to her, “I am Eleena.”

“I am Shmi. Nice to meet you.”

Eleena viewed her husband discussing a fair price with Ani and turned to ask her, “You’re from Tatooine, your son said.”

“Oh, yes we are.” Shmi didn’t want to delve into too much detail.

“Your son is a very smart young man; you must be very proud of him,” Eleena asked her in the usual prying sort of way.

Shmi decided to be a little more social, “Yes, I’m very proud of him. He was a Jedi until recently.”

“A Jedi? At such a young age?” Eleena asked in surprise, “Aren’t Jedi supposed to be, you know, unattached and stern.”

“That’s why he resigned from the Order and left Coruscant, and came to Tatooine to free me. He’s doing all of this for me. I’m so proud of him.” Shmi genuinely commented.

“Free you?” The young woman asked in confusion.

“Ani and I were slaves to a Toydarian. The Jedi freed Ani and took him to Coruscant. Ani left the Jedi to come and free me.”

“That takes a load off.” The young woman muttered with a nod.

When she gave the woman a curious look, the young woman decided to elaborate, “My husband works in the government you see. If we were to sell the house to just about anyone, it might become a problem for us later on. But since this was very short on time, we were a little worried about the buyer, and the nature of this sale.”

“You have nothing to worry about from us.” Shmi assured softly, “We are actually planning on opening a droid shop in Theed.”

Shmi and Eleena conversed for a while before her son returned with a smile saying that the deal was settled. Ani had bought the house for six hundred and fifty thousand credits. The contents of the house were theirs now along with the broken speeder in the hangar. A few hours later, Anakin and she had returned from Theed after having gone along with the family to register and notarise the property under the name of Shmi Skywalker Vader. Legally, she would be Shmi Vader, as per her name in the immigration forms, but publicly, she would be known as Shmi Skywalker.

* * *

**_Skywalker Home-_ **

It was his third night in this new home of theirs, after visiting their neighbours and inviting everyone in their new neighbourhood for a housewarming gathering. He was exhausted, in another life, Anakin Skywalker would have been thrilled to finally have a new home, but he was part Vader, and he was just tired. He felt like going to the backyard and training with his lightsaber, except he had no lightsaber, he was yet to build one for himself.

In any case, he wouldn’t be staying too long. Once the shop is open and the business picks up, he would leave the planet for some galaxy-saving business. He had illegal mining to do and money to make, and some big plans to thwart. A big enough fortune in his mother’s Nubian bank account just in case he died somewhere doing something senseless, which he was bound to do at some point, it was only a matter of time, he knew it in his heart.

As he was scrolling down his holopad, reading on the latest news happening on Coruscant, his comm blinked. Who could be calling _him_? Obi-Wan? Then he thought about it and realise that it couldn’t be his former master, the man didn’t know his commlink. By now, Obi-Wan would have channelled all the negative emotions into the Force and would have forgotten about him. His mother was downstairs, she wouldn’t be calling him either.

Anakin moved towards G12 in the charging station and activated the droid, “G12, sync on this comm call and broadcast my image.”

“Rweee…” The droid enthusiastically activated and rolled towards him.

And then he activated the commlink and attended the call, the image distorted at first and formed an image. The image he never would have expected.

“Padmé…” He whispered as his mouth hung agape in shock. She wasn’t wearing her elaborate headdress or queen’s royal attire, she looked like Padmé, his Padmé. However, he had to painfully remind himself that she wasn’t his wife.

“Hello, Anakin.” She said softly.

“Padmé…”

When she kept looking at him expectantly, he fumbled about for a few moments before he started staring off into space, while wondering the reason why he had tried to contact her in the first place.

“Anakin?” Her soft querying voice broke him out his trance.

“Padmé…, I-I uh, I m-mean, Your Highness.” Padmé just smiled at him most pleasingly that he forgot to ask why she had called him.

Padmé just smiled at the stuttering image of the boy before her and said calmly, “Take a deep breath.”

He took a deep breath and calmed himself, _‘Get a grip you idiot, you are a former-Sith for god’s sake!’_ His mind screamed at him but to no avail.

Padmé seeing that he was calming down, decided to ask, “Care to tell me why you wished to speak to me?”

“Uhhh…, I was planning on asking you for a favour, but turns out, I didn’t need it.” He replied hesitantly.

“Oh.” The queen of Naboo did seem a little disappointed.

“Can I ask what the favour was?” Padmé seemed curious.

Anakin tilted his head slightly, drinking in every aspect of her face and smiled. He scratched the back of his neck nervously and replied with a nervous chuckle, “I left the Jedi Order. I went to Tatooine and freed my mother. Naboo seemed like a good place to settle down, as such, I wished that maybe you could help us with the immigration.”

Padmé jumped to conclusions immediately. She felt horrible that she hadn’t had the time to speak with Anakin, now he had most likely settled down somewhere else, it made her feel guilty. That’s when his words registered, “Wait a minute. Freed your mother? I thought Master Qui-Gon already did that?” Padmé was under the impression that Shmi Skywalker was freed from slavery years ago but had to be left behind on Tatooine because the Jedi Order cannot host a non-force-sensitive woman at their temple.

“No, Qui-Gon managed to secure my freedom from Watto, but my mother was still a slave.”

“But why did you leave the Jedi Order?” Padmé’s voice was now filled with curiosity and concern.

“It’s a long story. I’m not sure that I can finish that in just three minutes. I’m sure the time is up already.” He had no intention of wasting her time, she had made it clear, or at least her secretary had made it clear at the time.

“This is my personal comm, Anakin.” She replied and that’s when he realised that it was late in the night.

He had come to his room around evening and he worked on a few things, like fixing his shower with a new heating pad and then brought a few useful things down from storage. He had been so immersed in reading the HoloNet news, he hadn’t realised that it was late.

“Oh. Is this legal? I mean, I d-don’t want to intrude in anything.”

“You forget that I am the queen, Anakin.” Padmé was sure that if her handmaids were to listen to his call, she would be teased mercilessly for pulling rank.

“I’m sorry, your highness. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Padmé is fine, and you didn’t offend me. Please do go on, why did you leave the Jedi?” Her small teasing smiles were making it harder and harder not to just break down and confess to her as he had done to his mother. But how was he supposed to say that he had gotten married to her and gotten her pregnant with twins and that he had unwittingly killed her?

Anakin shook his head and steadied himself, and he kept his mind on the story, “Um…uh… There is an ability…in the Force. I mean, this is an ability the Jedi use, it’s called Force Precognition. It is linked to Force Visions, its unique to the users of the Force. It’s rare, but I often have them. I-I…saw my mother die at the hands of the Sand People in Tatooine. I told the Jedi Council about the vision and they told me to let go of my bond with my mother, and that it was the will of the force if she were to die. I disagreed and I might have overreacted, and they didn’t take it well. I had another meeting later on with Obi-Wan at my side, during which they counselled the same thing again. That’s when I decided that being a Jedi wasn’t for me. I resigned and left Coruscant to save her.”

“Is she alright?” Padmé asked concerned.

“She is. I freed her from Watto.”

Padmé bit her lower lips and then she hesitated for a moment before she offered, “Anakin, I’m sorry I didn’t have the time to reach you. I will help you if you still wish to immigrate here to Naboo, and I will completely understand if you wish not to.”

“Why are you sorry, your highness? You were busy, I understand that as I understood then. You have nothing to be sorry about.” He assured her placatingly, “And about immigrating here, we came here five days ago. We just bought a home and settled in three days ago.”

“Here?” It took her a moment to understand what he was saying, “You’re on Naboo?”

“Yes. Almost an hour away from Theed. We just bought a house here in the Valley of Three Rivers.” He couldn’t help but grin at that.

Padmé smiled warmly at that, one that once again was making it very hard for him to reign in his feelings of guilt. What had he done to her? As guilt overpowered him, a strange thought came to his mind, what if she could be safe, but away from him? Then Qui-Gon’s words came to mind. She would be safer if he weren’t in the picture, but that would not remove all the risk. She would always be at risk, as long as she fights for justice. Anakin and Vader both agreed on that, they unanimously decided that he would protect her from all harm, even if she weren’t his wife or friend.

“That’s brilliant, Anakin.” Her words brought him out his thoughts.

Hours passed by as they talked about various things that happened over the years until midnight and they decided that they needed to get some rest. As he slowly drifted off into a dreamless slumber, he vowed to the Force that he would keep them safe, Padmé, his mother, everyone, even if it killed him.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not too sure about this chapter. This was meant to be filler, I wanted to leave it a cliff-hanger and continue later, but I couldn’t keep the conversation between Padmé and Anakin out of this one. I hope you liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the beginning of the story; I’m hoping to write more. Please go easy on me, I have never written Star Wars fanfiction before. If there are corrections put it in a comment and I would edit it out. Upcoming chapters will be longer, I promise.


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